HLA class II associated risk and protection against multiple sclerosis -: a Finnish family study

We analyzed the HLA class II haplotypes in 249 Finnish nuclear families and compared the frequencies of parental haplotypes transmitted or non-transmitted to multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The most important predisposing haplotype was DRB1 * 15-DQB1 * 0602 (p<10(-6)) as expected and a weak predisposing effect of DRB1 * 04-DQB1 * 0302 was revealed after the elimination of DRB1 * 15-DQB1 * 0602. HLA-DRB1 * 01-DQB1 * 0501 and DRB1 * 13-DQB1 * 0603 were negatively associated with MS in transmission disequilibrium, test, but only the DRB1 * 13-DQB1 * 0603 association remained significant (P=0.008) after the elimination of DRB1 * 15-DQB1 * 0602 haplotypes. Based on this study HLA class II haplotypes exhibit both predisposing and protective effects in MS. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.